Five Times
by rps-lizardspock
Summary: Five times McCoy saved Jim's life... and the one time he couldn't.


_********__Five times McCoy saved Jim's life..._  


ONE-

You sigh as you walk over to him in the bar. You've only known the kid for about a week, and the first time the two of you get the chance to go to a bar he's managed to find a way to piss off the biggest and baddest looking guy... and his six friends.

So you're walking over, because while Jim looks like he can normally hold his own in a fair fight, this is anything _but_ a fair fight and you're pretty sure these guys are about to kill the kid.

It's about now you're regretting that pesky oath you took to do no fucking harm.

You didn't have a plan going in and you still have absolutely no goddamn clue how you did it, but you managed to pull the kid out of there with only minor injury to yourself.

Jim wasn't so lucky. You assess the damage done and you know that any longer in that fight just might have killed him.

But for now he'll live.

TWO-

"What the fuck were you thinking?!" You shout at him. Now that the swelling's gone down and you're sure that he's going to be alright, it's time to let him know just how big of a dumbass you think he is.

"Bones, she had it smeared all. over. her. body," he replies, a huge stupid smile on his face. "A little trip to you for a shot of epinephrine was so worth it."

"You could have died, you know that? What if I hadn't been here, what if you'd have had to have waited for someone else to help you? Would it have been worth it then? If you were dead?!"

"Oh yeahhh," he replies, the same damn stupid grin on his face as he drifts off to sleep.

"Stupid fucking little shit," you grumble.

THREE-

You pick up your phone and sigh as Jim starts rambling frantically about something involving rope, carrots and a spatula. You don't even question it as you grab your keys to meet him at the address he gave you.

FOUR-

You sigh as you open the door and walk into the room that you share with Jim. You're not surprised that there's a half naked girl straddling Jim's lap on the sofa, just annoyed that he didn't warn you beforehand so you'd know to find somewhere to crash for the night. You thought about turning back around, but fuck it, you're already here.

"Jim, I thought we talked about this," you say annoyed, slamming the door shut. You roll your eyes as the girl shoots up and tries to fix her clothing.

"Who is this, your boyfriend?!" She shouts.

Oh great, and she's stupid.

"No." "Yes!"

"What?!" You ask, staring hard at Jim. He's darting his eyes quickly between you and the girl and it's obvious that he thinks this is some kind of signal. You decide to just play along. "Yes. Yeah, I am."

"Bones, I can explain," Jim says, jumping up off the couch and walking over to you. "Just play along," he whispers to you once he's close enough that he's sure the girl won't hear.

"Yeah, no shit," you grumble back to him. "You better have a damn good explanation, Jim!" You say louder now for the girl to hear.

"Umm, maybe I should go," the girl says, slowly inching toward the door. You briefly wonder how pissed you must look for her to look so afraid right now.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," you say and watch as she shoots out the door without another glance at either you or Jim.

"What the hell was that?" You ask as Jim walks back to the couch and sits down, laughing.

"Dude, she was talking about how much she loves me and how she's so exited about our relationship. I'd only just met her like an hour ago. You just saved my life."

You try to think up a retort, but you're too annoyed, so instead you walk over to your room and slam the door shut.

"Damn idiot."

FIVE-

You hear his scared scream as you're passing by his quarters. You race into his room without a second thought to see what's the matter and are bewildered by what you see. James T. Kirk, the brave, fearless captain of the USS Enterprise is standing up on the far end of his bed, staring in fear at something in the corner.

"Oh thank, God, Bones!" He exclaims as you walk through the door. "It's in the corner, kill it!"

You roll your eyes and grab the shoe that's been thrown next to the door and walk over to the corner, killing the offending creature.

"Thank you, Bones," Jim sighs in relief, visibly calming down now that it's dead. "You're a life saver."

"Yeah, don't mention it," you say, throwing the shoe down and walking out the door.

You laugh as you hear Jim wonder out loud how a fucking spider got into his fucking spaceship in the first place.

_********__... and the one time he couldn't._

You don't know what's happened. This was supposed to be an easy mission, but when you heard that emergency medical was needed you abandoned sickbay and raced to await the returning crew members. When they're finally beamed up you're not surprised at all to see that Spock is carrying an almost unconscious Jim. You go over to them to see how bad it is and gasp at the bloodied, broken body of your best friend. Jim's groaning in pain and Spock looks to you for instruction, gently setting him down on your signal. Your actions are frenzied as you kneel beside him, grabbing all kinds of things out of your medical bag.

"Bones," Jim gasps, holding out his hand weakly and grabbing your arm. Your actions freeze when you look into his eyes, knowing what's about to happen. "I'm not... not gonna make it..."

"Stop it, Jim, you're gonna be just fine," you respond shakily, fumbling again with your medical supplies.

"Not," he begins again, but stops with a pained groan as he coughs up blood.

"Shh, don't try and talk," you hear yourself say and your voice sounds very far away.

"Always... always saving me," Jim says with a small smile.

"Yeah, you bet your ass I am and you're not gonna make this the exception, do you understand me?"

"No," Jim shakes his head, his smile now sad. "Not gonna save me this time."

You grab hold of his hand to try and give him some silent support because you know any attempt to save him would be in vain. So instead you sit there, his blood covering your hands and his breathing becoming more and more labored. You barely notice that Spock has walked over and injected Jim with something - pain killers, you think, because obviously Spock knows what's going to happen as well.

You're still muttering comforting words to him when he gasps one final time, his chest falling for the last time as his eyes shut and you know he's gone. You close your eyes, too, and you feel tears falling down your face. The last thing you're aware of is someone's hand resting on your shoulder before everything turns to black.


End file.
